Molina, Lincecum overpowering in defeat of Diamondbacks
Bruce Jenkins - San Francisco Chronicle
The Giants tend to scratch out their wins, usually falling somewhere short of the sublime, but their Tuesday night series opener was something different. This 6-3 victory over the Diamondbacks was forged on sheer power.
It must have been refreshing for manager Bruce Bochy to watch Bengie Molina crush a three-run homer, followed shortly by Jose Castillo's 430-foot solo shot to deep center, both off respectable breaking pitches from Dan Haren. It was downright fascinating to watch Tim Lincecum (7-1, 2.33 ERA) at his best against a first-place team. In all, it was a win as satisfying as the Arizona night, so wondrously balmy that the conservative Chase Field officials actually opened the roof.
Lincecum was 118 pitches into the game, with one out in the eighth, when a pair of singles ended his night. He had left his mark, and in manager Bruce Bochy's view, "It was just nice to come in here, against a good ballclub, and get that kind of pitching. Tim is very special, I think. One of the better pitchers in the game."
As for Molina, who learned upon arriving at the park that he had been named the National League's Player of the Week, some 23,000 fans were treated to the sight of a hitter performing out of his mind. Molina already had lined a single to center when he came to the plate in the third inning, two men on in a scoreless tie, about to put a massive exclamation point on a mind-bending streak.
Molina had reached that dreamy stage where every pitch looks good, and he went after Haren with a thirst, swinging ferociously at three low-and-away pitches (two fouls, swing and a miss). He would have attacked the fourth if it hadn't bounced a foot in front of the plate. Then he got another low curveball, a pretty strong effort from Haren, and one-armed a deep drive to left-center.
It looked somewhat ordinary off the bat until it landed comfortably in the seats for a 3-0 lead. Molina had not only reached .640 (16-for-25) in his stirring run, he was now 8-for-8 with runners in scoring position dating back to the May 18 finale of the Giants' homestand.
Typically humble - a full career in the big leagues will do that to a man - Molina said, "I don't even think about it like that. This game's too tough. If it happens, obviously it's great. But every game's like do-or-die for us, man. That's how we have to look at it."
The Diamondbacks knew they were up against vintage Lincecum when they witnessed his matchups against Justin Upton, the 20-year-old sensation who soon might be the most complete outfielder in the National League. Twice - in the second inning, and again in the sixth - Upton whiffed embarrassingly on the Lincecum changeup. This occasionally is described as Lincecum's "third-best pitch," but on nights like this, it ranks with the best pitches, period, in all of baseball. It has reached the point where hitters know it's coming on two strikes, yet it tends to arrive even better than advertised.
"Just awesome, that's what he was," Molina said. "He's going to be a superstar for a long time."
Things got a bit testy in the eighth, when Lincecum surrendered two singles and gave way to Tyler Walker, but Walker's strike-three fastball to Upton was the inning's defining moment. Why, this win was so convincing, Brian Wilson didn't have a whiff of trouble in the ninth. He ended this game the way Lincecum ended the seventh, with a batter holding nothing but shattered wood. It was the Diamondbacks' night to be humbled.
Hot hitter
Bengie Molina has hit .640 in his last six games, including two homers and five doubles.
No comments:
Post a Comment